Leaderboard

No doubt the train scene was impressive, the only thing missing from it for me was a shaking floor like they have at the Dungeons for a bit of physical feedback. It's a shame they couldn't get it to work right. I don't think it was mainly about removing actors. If they wanted to save money on the ride already, I doubt they would have changed the layout of the attraction two years in a row. I still think it's very much an ongoing project trying to create a new type of VR based attraction. I think they're very close with the live VR scenes. For full immersion, I still reckon AR would be so much better. Have screens as the train windows and more reliable, high-def headsets. I know it would be even more expensive to do this but I think it would really mess with your mind about what is and isn't real. Imagine taking your headset off after the first scene and still seeing a demon hiding in the corner of the platform through the train windows before going out onto it. It's unlikely to happen I know but I can dream! That would be the best experience with the current technology imo.

Sorry if this has been posted before but this confirms it being an actor http://backstage.merlinentertainments.biz/a-demon-of-a-job/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

So instead of having to wait several years to finally spend a day with you (during a cold and wet day in murky Southend no less), you're telling me all I had to do was spend a couple of hundred quid at Thorpe? Darn it!

You also get me following you around with a look of disappointment and disdain. Enjoy your day!

The company (along with Shambhala & Illuminations) was the saving grace for the trip.

But the company you were with made it a highly enjoyable visit

You are certainly not the only one with those feelings @Mega-Lite. I also felt very similar to you, for nearly everything you said. Shambahla is just disappointing (if you aren't in the back row with a loose restraint). Dragon Khan is just rough. The food (only ever got chips) were overpriced but decent enough. Stampida blue was very good, but the red side was far too rough (basically the coaster itself is good but the rides roughness on it ruins it). Furius Baco is seriously under rated and is quite fun for what it is. El Diablo is alright, so certainly don't think you are in the minority with your feelings!

This was my thinking too (and yes it does appear to always do the same movement)! Plus I just didn’t think that Thorpe would actually pay someone to do that when they could just use an animatronic Kudos to them if they actually do

That queue board is why you've not had the 'true' PA experience; like pretty much any park, an empty park is an enjoyable one... It's hard for even PA and their lacklustre operations (mean Baco is still 30 minutes because Baco) to be awful when there's 10 minutes of queue (and likely barely any Fastpass going on)... Those ride opinions are awful though...

Few quick words from me. This is a great little coaster and will hopefully open the doors for smaller parks who were maybe thinking of getting a woodie and weren't sure if the hunger for one is there. It's great to see guests loving a ride like this, something that's accessible for all and full of great moments. For many UK people this will be their first modern wooden coaster and it really nails it. Great theme, great use of effects and really solid ride. Once the reliability is sorted out, I can't wait to get lots of rides on it as it's very enjoyable and the park is onto a winner.

The train you see as you walk down the tunnel isn’t the one which used to swing out - the one which swung out was literally made from metal bars / lights, through the smoke looking just like a train - the one you see down the tunnel now may have been the one which used to sit opisite the tunnel?

I believe the train front you see in the mid section is still the same one that races towards you, it's just static now. I guess whatever mechanism they designed for it just couldn't handle the load. Assuming that the scene runs every 5 minutes (3 trains, each cycle runs for 15 minutes), the mechanism would have to operate 84 times in a 7 hour day. I do hope to see it back, maybe once they;ve resolved the other issues they might revisit it. Rather than double post I'll post my current thoughts on DBGT V2.5

Derren Brown Ghost Train must go down as one of the most expensive flops in UK theme park history.

The future of theme park theming consists of labelling what buildings are supposed to be (e.g. "Safe Zone") rather than actually theming them

There's been plenty more pictures, including this lovely chap... TLC have confirmed that the update is not finished. Instead of closing the ride for the first couple of weeks of the season, they will be working on it out of opening hours to fine tune things, and also reacting to guest feedback as appropriate / possible to get things the best they can.